Saudi Pro League Success Story – Why Football Players Go To Saudi Arabia

We bet that most fans have never been invested in the Saudi Pro League until Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Al-Nassr. Since then, many footballers have followed his steps and relocated to the KSA in recent years. The country’s officials don’t even hide their intentions of getting more and more famous players in their teams, but why does the Middle East look so attractive to European superstars? Here are the reasons why football players go to Saudi Arabia and make their once lesser-known Saudi division, one of the most followed leagues in the world.

The Rise of the Saudi Pro League 

The Saudi Pro League is the highest-tier championship in the Saudi Arabian football hierarchy. Established in 1976, it saw only seven clubs from the entire Saudi Arabian Football Federation to become champions, with Al-Hilal being the most successful. They have 18 titles to their name. The country’s sports events were mostly unknown outside the country, but things have changed recently. The country now hosts the F1 Grand Prix and was even included in the possible World Cup 2030 host countries list. However, most people know about Saudi Arabia because of football.

Most football fans had no idea about the Saudi Pro League and would not have heard about it if it was not for Cristiano Ronaldo. In December 2022, the Portuguese completed his move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United. His contract with Al-Nassr meant that Ronaldo became the highest-paid footballer in history, with a yearly salary of €200 million.

Even though his first season with the team was not successful, Ronaldo will stay there until 2025. You can find many odds on his future in the KSA at online sportsbooks in Saudi Arabia. Ronaldo’s example inspired other footballers from European clubs to think about relocation. Before learning why football players go to Saudi Arabia, we should mention that football clubs have worked extensively on the summer transfer window in 2023.

As a result, such well-known players as Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Riyad Mahrez, Marcelo Brozovic, Fabinho, Sadio Mané, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Ruben Neves have already joined different Saudi Pro League clubs.

There are still rumors going that Kylian Mbappé might join one of the teams before the transfer to his desired club, Real Madrid. Reportedly, Mbappé was offered a whopping €300 million salary, which at the age of 23 will put him even above Ronaldo in the list of highest footballers’ salaries.

Things The KSA Football League Did Right

There are several reasons why the Saudi Pro League is so successful in football transfers. So far, it has done better than the Chinese Super League, for example. The latter was once one of the most hyped championships in the world. Chinese football was one of the most profitable championships during 2015-2017, and many players went there to earn a fortune.

Chinese clubs bought Hulk, Alex Teixeira, Oscar, and many other stars. However, the surrounding hype died out very shortly. The league didn’t manage to attract elite players of Ronaldo’s caliber and with that no broadcasters were interested in buying rights to show Chinese Super League on their channels.

Compared to the Chinese Super League, the Saudi Pro League is just as rich. What they didn’t do though is give up on attracting famous footballers. Arguably, it is mostly due to Ronaldo’s transfer to Al-Nassr why football fans became somewhat interested in the Saudi Pro League. As soon as the news about his transfer hit headlines, the official Instagram page of the club gained almost 3 million followers. 22Bet and other sportsbooks started producing odds on other players to join the league, and they were absolutely right. 

Reasons Why Football Players Go To Saudi Arabia

So what are the reasons why so many football players go to Saudi Arabia? Foremost, it’s all about money. The league offers players salaries they would have never earned in Europe. For instance, Jordan Henderson, who has never been considered a big star even by Liverpool FC fans, will now become the highest-paid English footballer ever. Reportedly, he’ll have a €30 million salary.

Liverpool also managed to sell Fabinho for €47 million despite buying him for €45 million 5 years ago. Saudi Arabian football clubs lure players with money, and do the same with clubs they want to buy players from. Chinese clubs made a mistake by not offering even higher salaries to famous players and lost them as a result.

In addition to this, Saudi Arabia has a decent climate as well as the whole region of Arabian Peninsula lies on the way from Europe to India, Singapore, and Australia, making it one of the most important spots on the world map. Finally, the country is slowly building its reputation as a big sports center in the Middle East by hosting F1 events, willing to host the World Cup, and promoting itself through the biggest international football stars.

Further transfer of elite players this summer only proves that the KSA league is very attractive, firstly, financially. If Saudi Arabia succeeds in buying Mbappé, it will be the country’s biggest achievement. Odds on the French players to join the league are pretty good at online gambling sites in Saudi Arabia. However, the final answer is still unknown, so the show keeps going on, and we are ready to watch it.

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